Grief and greed
by Alianora Serein
Summary: "His eyes flew open, shining red. Sensual lips widened into an opened mouthed grin, his canine teeth growing sharper. His powerful arm shot up like lightning and captured the back of her neck with an icy grip." All she wanted was just one last goodbye.


**Disclaimer: **Kuroshitsuji and all of the characters and surroundings described in this story belong to Toboso Yana. No copyright infringement is intended. This story is only for entertainment and not for any kind of profit.

**Summary:** She just wanted to say one last goodbye to the man she loved.

**Warning:** There is a major spoiler for the Murder Mystery Arc in the manga, chapters 38-49.

**Rating: **T

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**Grief and greed**

She needed this. To say one last goodbye on her own to the man she had loved and respected so much, who had been murdered so cruelly. She tried to find an excuse to slip away quietly and visit the cellar where they had placed Mr. Sebastian, letting Finny, Bard and Mr. Tanaka handle the guests –the ones still alive- on their own, but their sad, understanding eyes told her she didn't have to.

It wasn't the first time Maylene kept vigil over the corpse of a loved one. She knew loss. Had stared at its gaunt face for hours when she was just a child, as it hung with bony hands from her parents' graves and delighted in her tears. She kneeled beside his still form and pulled back the white sheet hiding him from her eyes. With a trembling hand, she reached out and caressed his pale face, the noble forehead, the high cheekbones, the now forever silent lips. He was so cold to her touch. She took off her glasses. Her garnet eyes were already brimming with tears. With one blink, they slowly started streaming down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," she whispered brokenly, as her tears kept falling. "I got your face all wet." She pulled out a cotton handkerchief from her dress' pocket to gently wipe the few wayward salty drops that had fallen on his pallid cheeks.

Between broken sobs, she started apologizing for every careless mistake she ever made, for not listening more carefully to his instructions. She promised to be the best maid the Phantomhive Manor had ever seen; she promised that they would continue keeping their young Master safe from anyone who might seek to harm him. Her sobs grew louder. In vain she tried to muffle them with her hands.

The eyes of the butler she secretly loved flew open, shining an eerie red. Sensual lips widened into an opened mouthed grin, his canine teeth growing sharper. His powerful arm shot up with lightning speed and captured the back of her neck with an icy grip, abruptly turning her mournful cries into gasps of horror.

The maid clamped her eyes shut. Her heart raced in mindless terror feeling her head being tipped back. His nose brushed against her pulse point as he took a long whiff of her scent. A frightened squeak escaped her. She was immediately silenced by his cold lips, his free arm imprisoning her against his chest with a vice-like grip. She thrashed like a defenseless small animal trapped in the powerful jaws of a wolf, as the demon butler hungrily devoured her lips.

Her struggles grew weaker. Her strength flickered and became fainter and fainter until everything around her faded into darkness.

Sebastian continued to leisurely flick his tongue over her lower lip as he watched her through languid eyes, cursing himself all the while. In his greediness he had gorged himself and had taken too much, too quickly. That's what humans must feel when they are drunk.

Demons of Sebastian's caliber are strange creatures. Human souls are the rare delicacy they crave, but it's by no means their only source of sustenance. If a soul is their main course, a soul's energy, a human's more powerful emotions in their purest forms, is their dessert. A dessert they both delight in and abhor as it gravely affects them.

The ecstatic feeling of grief, the spiciness of terror and the thick sweetness of unfulfilled desire the red-headed maid had been projecting as he lay on the cold stone floor, pretending to be dead, had resulted into one heady mix. The demon butler had found himself unable to resist such a feast served for him in a silver platter. He sighed in resignation over his momentary weakness and turned his eyes back to the girl he clutched in his arms.

"A nuisance awake, and a nuisance asleep." She was such a puzzling creature. Shedding so many tears over a demon. He chuckled as he wiped her damp cheeks with a lone finger. His unexpected treat was making him feel unusually kind.

When Maylene woke up, she found herself slumped against poor Mr. Sebastian's unmoving chest. She hurriedly backed away from him. With trembling hands she located her glasses, finding the safely tucked in one of her pockets.

What happened? She wondered as she feverishly twirled a stray lock of dark red hair between her fingers. She had been crying when…

No, no…Everything must have been a twisted nightmare created by her restless mind, her frayed nerves and fueled by her more than overactive imagination.

"That's why you shouldn't read so many horror novels. They feed you with unhealthy ideas until they finally rot your brain," Bard would scold her if she told him.

With one last look on Mr. Sebastian, she stood on shaky legs and, after covering him once more with the white sheet, she slowly began ascended the stairs.

The lips of a supposedly dead butler carved into a mysterious smile as the door to the cellar closed behind her.

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A/N: I know, I know. What am I doing penning this one-shot when I haven't updated 'If Wishes Were …Kitties' in months. Fear not, the next chapter of aforementioned story is currently being fleshed from various pieces that have been lagging in my hard drive for months. I hope it will be finished soon.

Kuroshitsuji's season 2 is to blame for the delay. I was so disturbed by more than half of the episodes beginning last summer that I couldn't write anything about the series for months. Thankfully, the manga storylines led me to a complete recovery.

One last thing, I'm sure you have all seen and heard about the horrible tragedy Japan is going through these days. If you love Japan as much as I do and want to help, please visit the site of the American Red Cross (redcross . org) and make a small donation. Even the smallest one can help. Thanks for reading!


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